OCT - TR North pulls out a thriller over Barnegat
By TONY GRAHAM
STAFF WRITER
BRICK - A little thing like catching a third game in less than 24 hours Saturday afternoon didn't seem to faze C.J. Alonso of Toms River North.
After all, who's counting when you've caught every inning of every game all season.
"'There's no place I'd rather be than out here playing baseball,'' said the junior.
Alonso laced an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday to give Toms River North a tense 3-2 victory over Barnegat in a quarterfinal round game of the A Division of the 2007 Ocean County Tournament at Brick Township High School.
The Mariners (19-3), the No. 1 seed in the division, will play No. 2 Toms River South in an OCT semifinal 7:30 p.m. Monday at Toms River East. The game will mark third meeting of the season between the Shore Conference Class A South rivals.
The OCT championship game will be played 7 p.m. Wednesday at FirstEnergy Park, Lakewood.
""They (Toms River South) beat us the first game of the season, then we came back and beat them at their field,'' said Alonso whose team won the division championship.
""We're just looking to do the same thing,'' said Alonso. ""I think we can beat them, there's no doubt in my mind, we've been playing strong all year. No reason we can't beat them in the tournament now.''
TR North advanced in tbe OCT with a Saturday morning 8-1 win over Pinelands.
Friday it outlasted Red Bank Catholic in an eight-inning regular season game. It had a day off Thursday after its eight-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday by St. Rose.
""We didn't take the loss to heart,'' said Alonso.
For a while Saturday the Bengals (13-8), an all junior sophomore program in just its second varsity season, was causing some anxious heart beats among Mariner rooters.
Barnegat junior Matt McNeal carried a three-hit shutout and a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning, courtesy of a first-inning Erik Smithman sacrifice fly.
TR North broke through against the right-hander when Alonso shot an RBI single through the right side of a drawn-in infield and , with two away, it took a 2-1 lead on a booming triple to deep center by senior Anthony Mazzetta.
Barnegat answered with a run in the sixth on a bases-loaded, line-drive sacrifice fly by Sean Deering.
In the top of the seventh Alonso cut down a would be base-stealer and TR North won it moments later.
Paul Demartino led off the bottom of the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by winning pitcher Chad Geran (6-0).
Alonso then lined an 0-1 pitch into the gap in right center. ""I was right on him, I knew he was going to try and throw a fastball to me,'' said Alonso. ""I took it to right field like I did the last time I was up. ""It was a good game, they played us tough,'' said Alonso. "'Their pitcher was pretty dominant through the the first five, then we got on him and got the win, did what we had to do.
""Our kids played hard every second of the way,'' said Tom Sutaris, Barnegat coach, a graduate of Toms River South.
""We just didn't make some plays when we had to make them.''
The young Bengals certainly didn't appear intimidated.
"""We just gave out a t-shirt that says, "Respect all, fear none,'' said Sutaris. ""You respect your opponent because they're a good team. But we go out and play our game, we don't back down from anybody.
""That didn't get us a win today but I think in the future we'll have some success if we continue to respect all our opponents but fear nobody.''
Geran struck out eight and walked none.
McNeal, touched for nine hits, fanned five and walked one.
STAFF WRITER
BRICK - A little thing like catching a third game in less than 24 hours Saturday afternoon didn't seem to faze C.J. Alonso of Toms River North.
After all, who's counting when you've caught every inning of every game all season.
"'There's no place I'd rather be than out here playing baseball,'' said the junior.
Alonso laced an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday to give Toms River North a tense 3-2 victory over Barnegat in a quarterfinal round game of the A Division of the 2007 Ocean County Tournament at Brick Township High School.
The Mariners (19-3), the No. 1 seed in the division, will play No. 2 Toms River South in an OCT semifinal 7:30 p.m. Monday at Toms River East. The game will mark third meeting of the season between the Shore Conference Class A South rivals.
The OCT championship game will be played 7 p.m. Wednesday at FirstEnergy Park, Lakewood.
""They (Toms River South) beat us the first game of the season, then we came back and beat them at their field,'' said Alonso whose team won the division championship.
""We're just looking to do the same thing,'' said Alonso. ""I think we can beat them, there's no doubt in my mind, we've been playing strong all year. No reason we can't beat them in the tournament now.''
TR North advanced in tbe OCT with a Saturday morning 8-1 win over Pinelands.
Friday it outlasted Red Bank Catholic in an eight-inning regular season game. It had a day off Thursday after its eight-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday by St. Rose.
""We didn't take the loss to heart,'' said Alonso.
For a while Saturday the Bengals (13-8), an all junior sophomore program in just its second varsity season, was causing some anxious heart beats among Mariner rooters.
Barnegat junior Matt McNeal carried a three-hit shutout and a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning, courtesy of a first-inning Erik Smithman sacrifice fly.
TR North broke through against the right-hander when Alonso shot an RBI single through the right side of a drawn-in infield and , with two away, it took a 2-1 lead on a booming triple to deep center by senior Anthony Mazzetta.
Barnegat answered with a run in the sixth on a bases-loaded, line-drive sacrifice fly by Sean Deering.
In the top of the seventh Alonso cut down a would be base-stealer and TR North won it moments later.
Paul Demartino led off the bottom of the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by winning pitcher Chad Geran (6-0).
Alonso then lined an 0-1 pitch into the gap in right center. ""I was right on him, I knew he was going to try and throw a fastball to me,'' said Alonso. ""I took it to right field like I did the last time I was up. ""It was a good game, they played us tough,'' said Alonso. "'Their pitcher was pretty dominant through the the first five, then we got on him and got the win, did what we had to do.
""Our kids played hard every second of the way,'' said Tom Sutaris, Barnegat coach, a graduate of Toms River South.
""We just didn't make some plays when we had to make them.''
The young Bengals certainly didn't appear intimidated.
"""We just gave out a t-shirt that says, "Respect all, fear none,'' said Sutaris. ""You respect your opponent because they're a good team. But we go out and play our game, we don't back down from anybody.
""That didn't get us a win today but I think in the future we'll have some success if we continue to respect all our opponents but fear nobody.''
Geran struck out eight and walked none.
McNeal, touched for nine hits, fanned five and walked one.
posted by Tony Graham at 4:33 PM
2 Comments:
RE: Toms River North vs Toms River South Semi's
Who gets the starting nod for Toms River South? You would think Gebler, however the junior, Jeff Bissey has overall been the most productive pitcher for the Indians this year
Would Geran be ineligible to pitch Monday, or does Sunday start the new week, thus he can pitch 10 innings if need be. I never completely understood the pitching rules
I like TRS winning the rubber match, 5-3
Geran cannot throw Monday via NJSIAA pitching rules...I am told by TR South that Gebler is available Monday for six innings...
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